NEWSROOM

Wonga buys BillPay | Boost for PayLater Expected

Monday, October 21 2013

LONDON | Last week, Wonga announced the acquisition of BillPay, one of the leading online payment and financing platforms in German-speaking countries. The acquisition significantly accelerates Wonga's development into a broad-based, digital finance group and will also speed the development of their PayLater online retail product, together with the company’s international expansion.

About Billpay

BillPay is a provider of e-commerce payment and financing solutions in Continental Europe, principally in Germany, Europe’s second biggest online retail market. The company also operates in Austria and Switzerland and has recently expanded into the Netherlands. Founded in 2009, BillPay has around two million end-users and works with over 3,500 online shops. The business is a key payments partner with a number of the largest e-commerce merchants in Europe - including CBR Group (CECIL and Street One), Runnerspoint, Fahrrad.de, DriveNow and Home24 - across a broad range of segments from travel and fashion to electronics and furniture. BillPay offers people a fast and secure way to shop online with a range of different payment methods, from invoicing to instalment credit.

Immediate Presence in 7 European Markets

The combination of Wonga and BillPay will create one of Europe’s leading digital finance and payment systems businesses, with an immediate presence in seven major European markets. The acquisition follows the launch of Wonga’s consumer loans service in Poland and the purchase of an online, short-term consumer credit business in Spain during the past 12 months.

PayLater | Low-Cost Installment Payments

BillPay’s service also complements PayLater, an online retail payment service, which launched earlier this year and now provides a unique checkout option, based on simple and low-cost instalment payments.

'Pioneer in the financial revolution'

Nelson Holzner, the founder and CEO of BillPay, together with senior colleagues, will remain within their current roles as part of the enlarged group. Errol Damelin, Wonga's founder and chief executive, said: “The combined Wonga and BillPay business will consolidate our position as a pioneer in the financial revolution, offering customers a range of bold new payment and credit solutions for the modern world. “As well as giving Wonga Group a presence in Europe’s second largest online retail market, this deal continues our on-going transformation into a fully international, digital finance business with operations across three continents and more than three million customers.” Nelson Holzner added: “All of us at BillPay are delighted we are joining forces with such a large and innovative group as Wonga. We feel our services and ethos are entirely complementary and we look forward to working with them.”